Thursday, November 19, 2009

The I's Have It.

Apparently, in support of Obamacare, we have 2 types of people:
A) Ideologues
B) Idiots

There. I said it....and it had to be said.
Harsh, perhaps...but accurate nonetheless...

Before the ranting continues, allow me to make an observation or two (actually, you have no choice in the matter, but after starting out so rudely, I thought a modicum of politeness might be in order..)...
No rational human being can deny that reform is overdue when it comes to the delivery of our healthcare system. Of course, some reform - such as interstate competition amongst providers is not being discussed. Others, such as tort reform is essentially taboo given the truly ginormous amounts of money given to the Democratic coffers by trial lawyers - and as such, will not be considered by this administration in any meaningful way....but we aren't talking about reform here. Healthcare legislation, in it's current incarnation, is not reform. It is change. Reform is the process of making adjustments to a system (hopefully for the better) while leaving the core of that system intact - if the reform ultimately is found to be detrimental, the system can then be reverted back to it's original configuration. This current incarnation amounts to change. Once we go down this proposed road, there is no going back.

There are a myriad of reasons why Obamacare is a terrible idea (oh, that's right, I used the word 'myriad'...because that's what the thesaurus came up with when i said 'a bunch of')... requiring hours of typing and subsequent ranting to do them justice...so I won't bother. I'll just stick with one.... Uncle Sam's track record.

Our dear Uncle is many things and efficient isn't one of them. He tends to overreach, underperform and greatly underestimate the amount of money that will be required to do any particular project. Consider the following failures (we'll start with the public/private co-ops, since the Obamacare likes to talk so much about the 'public option'....:


Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - this public/private abomination's failures were instrumental (although certainly not solely responsible) for the housing market collapse and subsequent recession from which we are supposed to be joblessly recovering from... Uncle Sam now owns 5 trillion in bad mortgages.... do you know how many cheeseburgers 5 trillion dollars could buy?

AMTRAK - Never made a profit, never will. Keeps chugging along on waste and stupidity. The little engine that could not...so it is endlessly subsidized. Over 30 billion thus far...

USPS - Neither rain, nor snow nor dark of night can prevent Uncle Sam from crippling the Pony Express to the tune of 5 billion (conservatively) over the last 2 years alone.... Thanks Uncle!

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and now, the big-boys.....

Medicare -
will be insolvent by 2017. Our population is getting older and Obamacare will slice off a few hundred million from the budget. So glad to say that dear Uncle has been spending that considerable chunk of change out of our paychecks wisely. Any thoughts on how the program will be funded after that? Anyone? Bueller? ( I forgot to mention, millions get scammed annually from the system and the government has done little to nothing to stop it... and that will change why exactly?)

Social Security -
2037. Done. Zip. Nada. Thank God that it will be 25 years after the apocalypse in 2012, so we really won't feel the sting....

FEMA -
Consider that in the aftermath of Katrina. 6.3 billion was spent by the organization. 1/4th of that amount was either scammed and/or wasted (CBO report). Small change comparatively speaking, but you get the idea....

Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Reform -
The Bush administration initially pegged this beauty at 400 billion (10 years). The most recent estimate is 1.2 TRILLION. And here I thought everything was just bigger in Texas....
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My small brain is seeing a trend here.....

What rational being can possibly think that this can be done without bankrupting us? The writing is literally on the wall here. Obamacare (current iteration) will decimate the economy. Period. What planet do you live on if you think that this government program will be any different....?

.... So we are left with the ideologue. One who believes that it is the moral imperative of the government to provide these services to the populace, no matter the cost. Ideologues are entitled to their opinions and it is pointless to try to change them. We can just ask that they don't reproduce in great numbers....

So, we are left with 2 possibilities:
A) Ideologue
B) Idiot

At this point, we can ill-afford either.

Apparently, the "I's" have it....

Monday, November 16, 2009

Newt 2, Electric Boogaloo

Like the herpes virus, Newt Gingrich is back - and he's making me itch (not inappropriately, mind you - just that general 'heebee jeebee' all over type of itch).

Contract with America 2 you say? Really?
It seems that Hollywood isn't the only industry that can come up with a crappy sequel.
Not that the message is bad...

1) Jobs.. yup, jobs are good (and when an administration touts the fact that at least we aren't losing them as fast these days as their #1 accomplishment, you just know we're hosed)

2) Energy... yup, energy is a good thing. Multifaceted approach combining petroleum, nuclear, gas and 'clean' renewables can only be a good thing. Becoming energy independent would free us of the hypocrisy of trying to tease out our foreign policy from our energy policy. Of course, giving the country a 'Green Enima' in the process.... not so good. Having Obama the 'candidate' promising that he would bankrupt the coal industry.... terrible.

3) Health Care fix... yup, 3 for 3. A system that would encourage competition, lower prices and bring the responsibility back to the consumer.... we have a winner (as opposed to this steaming pile of poo that is being pushed around on the floor of the senate floor... now that's a visual for you... that is wrong in so many ways that it brings up even more images of steaming poo)

4) Education...meh. Personally, I would rather see government get out of education and have the whole shooting match (literally) turned over to the private sector. Don't we have enough state run indoctrination with PBS?

You may be saying to yourself, 'self, what's his problem? 3 of 4 is pretty good, (or 4 of 4 if you think we should get deeper into the indoctrination business) what's his problem? To which I would respond, 'I have many, many problems, most of them are personal and I would ask you not to bring them up again.' And then I would say 'Newt'. Sometimes, its not the message, its just the messenger.

NY-23 anyone? Sorry Mr. Gingrich, your street cred is whack. How do you back a candidate who essentially spits in the face of EVERY conservative principle and not expect some backlash? Don't give me this 'the party has to make room for different points of view' crap. That is only true when you have at least SOME principles in common. Scozzafava apparently had none. Your glorious plans to rebuild the republican party on a foundation of cards has failed....oops. Triangulated that one wrong buddy.

And nothing gives the appearance of looking forward like looking backwards. Sounds a mite hypocritical - and I just love hypocrisy... (kind of like elective abortion being on the health coverage for GOP employees despite the constant drumbeat of anguished criticism against the practice - kind of hypocrisy).... makes me all tingly inside just thinking about it...

So, ideas = good(ish) ... delivery system = (bad) ... messenger = (laughable)

Gingrich is about the 'power' movement, not the conservative one. His concept of 'Contract 2' is equally as ludicrous as the concept that the current health care legislation is not a veiled attempt at government takeover of 1/6th of our economy....but that is another rant for another day....